Wall Cycle to Ocotillo

Four acoustic water vessels were placed along the Arizona Canal and Grand Canal near the freeway. Two were placed along the Arizona Canal, and two along the Grand Canal. By 2021 only one vessel at each Canal remained. The designs were created by Hopi artist and silversmith Howard Sice. When they were introduced, the acoustic vessels contained bubbling water that spread sound and a mist over the bench area.[9]

Three guardian vessels are placed into the freeway wall at places were neighborhood streets were cut off by the construction of the SR-51. Each bear the name of the street they are located on: The Glenrosa Guardian Vessel on Glenrosa Avenue, the Palm Guardian Vessel on Palm Lane, and the Brill Guardian Vessel on Brill Street.[9]

All three guardian vessels have portions visible to motorists from the freeway. The most visible is the Glenrosa Guardian Vessel whose handle can be seen prominently in the freeway wall between Indian School and Camelback. It has been referred to by some motorists as a "giant teapot."[11][12]

Two water clock vessels are placed into the side of the east wall of the SR-51. Originally built atop the freeway wall, the vessels were left in place during the 2004 wall expansion; the addition to the freeway wall was built around the sculptures. A portion of both vessels can be seen by motorists on the SR-51.

Three gazebos were built along the bike paths on the neighborhood side of the barrier wall.

Teapot Gazebo is a 14-foot free-standing work constructed of lime green metal, with actual teapot pieces inlaid in its terrazzo floor. Dave Siebert of the Arizona Republic called the work "the most interesting of the pieces."[12]

Moroccan Gazebo is built into the freeway wall and can be seen along the bike path on the east side of the SR-51. It is located feet away from Giant Car Container Vessel.

African Gazebo is located on the west side of the SR-51; it is built into the barrier wall.

The artists referred to this piece as a "mini-park" and a "small sanctuary for hummingbirds."[9]

Three of the largest pieces are called "giant vessels"; all are located on the neighborhood side of the freeway wall.

Giant Octopus Vessel and Fishbowl is a two-part work consisting of a giant vessel and an accompanying shallow pool, both painted with aquatic designs.

Giant Sunflower Vessel is located along a bike path east of the SR-51.

Giant Car Container Vessel is located along another bike path east of the SR-51. It is visible to motorists on Osborn Road, and located within view of sculpture Moroccan Gazebo.

Located at 20th St and Oak on the neighborhood side of the wall, five sculptures are located on a section of the freeway barrier called the "Imagery Wall." Three sculptures called Aspirin Bottle, Pitcher, and Coffee Cup are placed inside indentations within the wall. On a shelf on the wall is another sculpture called Skeleton Face Vessel. The sculpture called Glass Pitcher is inside an asymmetrical indentation in the wall. It can be seen on both sides of the freeway wall.

Within the first year of the art's installation the work was criticized by local residents, international media, and the mayor of Phoenix. Critics of Wall Cycle to Ocotillo took issue with the project's $474,000 cost, its unusual design, and the hiring of out-of-state artists for its creation.

On February 2, 1992, a few days after the art's installation, Arizona Republic columnist E.J Montini criticized the art in a piece titled "$500,000 buys some cracked pots for parkway". In the piece Montini joked that National Geographic was making a documentary about the pots called "Chamber Pots of the Gods."[13] The following day a gold spray-painted toilet was left atop the parkway wall with a copy of Monitini's article inside.[7][14]

City workers removed the golden toilet, stating that it was a safety hazard for motorists. Also removed were a few old trash cans and flower pots that had also been placed upon the wall in an apparent protest against the new art installation.[7][14] Two weeks later vandals lassoed a rope around the 3-foot tall crystal vase sculpture, breaking off the top half of the work.[15] Artists spent two months repairing the sculpture and it was returned to its place atop the freeway wall.[16] Less than two months later, in June 1992, the vase sculpture was again smashed by vandals. It was again repaired by the artists.[17]

The pots received international media attention. The National Enquirer referred to them as "ugly urns." They were parodied in a cartoon Ripley's Believe It or Not! They received media coverage in Japan.[18]

The mayor of Phoenix, Paul Johnson, publicly criticized the sculptures and called for their removal. The week after its installation Johnson issued a memo to the City Council calling the price of the art work "outrageous" in difficult economic times. Johnson had been a member of the City Council in 1990 when it had approved the project's funding.[8] He was unable to remove the sculptures because of a contract clause stating that the art could not be removed within the first five years.[18]

In 1993 Wall Cycle to Ocotillo was voted Phoenix's second-favorite work of art.[18] In 1994 Wall Cycle to Ocotillo was one of ten public artworks featured in a Smithsonian video titled "Public Sculpture America's Legacy".[19][20][21]

In a 2008 piece about Wall Cycle to Ocotillo, Kathleen Vanesian of Phoenix New Times praised the sculptures, writing "Those pots gave me a flicker of hope that Phoenix wasn't as culturally desiccated as I'd thought — that someone here in this vale of triple-digit temperatures and double-digit I.Q.'s actually had a pretty artfully honed sense of humor."[22]